Elected Officers
President - Tess Scalise
Tess is a lifelong Republican and patriot. She served three years on active duty and six years in the Army reserves with temporary duty assignments in Panama and Germany. Tess has nearly 30 years in executive management in the real estate industry, as vice president, president and chief operating officer, with local and global franchise brands. She is currently a licensed broker with Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate in Breckenridge. Tess and her husband, Tony, love all things Summit County. They have a sailboat on Lake Dillon, for which Captain Tony is a skilled pilot. They love to ski, hike, bike, eat, drink and be merry. Tess is active in the community and volunteers for the Dillon Community Church food bank and frequently runs the media slides for church messages. She also embraces the Freedom for Summit (CT3) network of local patriots and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Denver. She was recently elected Vice Chair of the GOP Central Committee for Summit County. Tess is honored to be the president of Summit County Republican Women.
Vice-president - Penny TerHaar
Penelope (Penny) TerHaar is an outdoor enthusiast. She enjoys skiing, sailing, kayaking, biking and other activities. She has a background in pharmaceutical and scientific sales, and her business skills were developed from completing an MBA degree and management with big pharma. She believes in smaller government and personal responsibility. Raising her son as a single mother in the Chicago suburbs, she successfully portrayed this philosophy of self-determination. Her son is the captain of a large fishing vessel in Alaska. Penny splits her time between Colorado and Florida, where she lives with her adorable mini pernedoodle, Meli. She believes in common sense conservative values, educating the community and the Golden Rule. She also participates with CT3 and Freedom for Summit groups.
Treasurer - Ruthie Piper Hardee
This native Floridian knew the minute she rode her first chairlift in 1976, during a University of Missouri Ski Club trip, that she wanted to live in Summit County. After graduation she headed back west only to land a job at Keystone in food and beverage and eventually ski patrol. She also worked various aspects of Copper Mountain. Ruthie enjoys telling the old stories of the original Summit ski resorts, restaurants and fabulous '70s when lift tickets were only $8 and there was ONE stop light from Keystone to Silverthorne. She lived in Summit for 10 years before moving to California where she worked a decade in the film and television industry. Her heart strings kept pulling her back to Colorado. She eventually settled in Denver and developed a modality that would change the massage and spa industry in the early '90s.
She met her life-love in 2015 in Denver, and together they decided to move from the city that was changing rapidly to the small-town mentality and conservative values they both grew up with. Ruthie sold her company, and she and Rick sold their homes and relocated to Silverthorne. Being back (full circle) in Summit County, Ruthie hopes to instill old-fashioned values and gratitude to locals. She is involved heavily with the volunteer program at FIRC and recognizes how important our Latino community is in Summit County. She also volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. Ruthie hopes to reinforce important skills with this new generation of youths, assuring them that they should protect the freedoms THIS country affords us all.
Secretary - Lori Cutunilli
Lori Cutunilli moved to Summit County with her husband, Mike, and their four children in 1991 so Lori could work with her father, Larry Smith, in his businesses at Farmers Korner. All four children graduated from Summit High School. Mike built a tile and flooring business while Lori worked with her father, first at Summit Adventure Park, then developing Highland Meadows subdivision. They currently manage
Farmers Korner Mobile Home Park.
In addition, Lori also worked in the schools as a lunch lady, was an assistant to the late Colorado State Senator Bryan Sullivant, and sat on Summit County Sign Board and Board of Adjustment for 12 years. Recently, Lori joined the Summit County Republican Women as secretary and is running for Colorado Republican Committee secretary. She spends as much time as possible with her seven grandchildren and great-granddaughter.
It’s a wonderful life.
Summit County Republican Women's Mission
Front L to R: Tess Scalise, President; Penny Terhaar, Vice President;
Back L to R: Ruthie Hardee, Treasurer; Lori Cutunilli, Secretary
Members of our grassroots organization welcome you to join us in Summit County as we fulfill our mission to “build relationships among like-minded women and strengthen our knowledge of Colorado politics.”
A friendly, conservative, outgoing group of women, we are dedicated to serving our country and the local community. Through our meetings, events, affiliations, and website, we are a resource of information that is often difficult to find in mainstream media. We also offer opportunities to develop meaningful friendships in our beautiful mountain community. Like-minded men are welcome as Associate Members, too.
History of the Republican Party
- The Republican Party was born in the early 1850s by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6th, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. The name “Republican” was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.
- In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for president under the slogan “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont.” Even though they were considered a “third party” because the Democrats and Whigs represented the two-party system at the time, Fremont received 33 percent of the vote. Four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.
- The Civil War erupted in 1861 and lasted four grueling years. During the war, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The Republicans of the day worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.
- The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women’s suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana, in 1917.
- Presidents during most of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century were Republicans. The White House was in Republican hands under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush. Under the last two, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the United States became the world’s only superpower, winning the Cold War from the old Soviet Union and releasing millions of people from Communist oppression.
- Behind all the elected officials and the candidates of any political party are thousands of hard-working staff and volunteers who raise the money, stuff the envelopes, and make the phone calls that every winning campaign must have.
- The national structure of our party starts with the Republican National Committee. Each state has its own Republican State Committee with a chairman and staff. The Republican structure goes right down to the neighborhoods, where a Republican precinct captain every Election Day organizes Republican workers to get out the vote.
- Most states ask voters when they register to express party preference. Voters don’t have to do so, but registration lists let the parties know exactly which voters they want to be sure vote on Election Day. Just because a voter registers as a Republican, they don’t need to vote that way – many voters split their tickets, voting for candidates in both parties. But the national party is made up of all registered Republicans in all 50 states. They are the heart and soul of the party. Republicans have a long and rich history with basic principles: individuals, not government, can make the best decisions; all people are entitled to equal rights; and decisions are best made close to home.
- The symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. During the mid-term elections way back in 1874, Democrats tried to scare voters into thinking President Grant would seek to run for an unprecedented third term. Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, depicted a Democratic jackass trying to scare a Republican elephant – and both symbols stuck. For a long time Republicans have been known as the “G.O.P.” Party faithful thought it meant the “Grand Old Party.” But apparently the original meaning (in 1875) was “gallant old party.” And when automobiles were invented it also came to mean, “get out and push.” That’s still a pretty good slogan for Republicans who depend every campaign year on the hard work of hundreds of thousands of volunteers to get out and vote and push people to support the causes of the Republican Party.
- Reprinted with permission of the Lisle Township Republicans.